2019 Camp Fire Water Resources Monitoring and Research Symposium

The symposium brought together researchers who have been investigating the impacts of the Camp Fire and other urban fires in Northern California. Speakers covered a diversity of research conducted on waterways, gardens, working landscapes and the urban environment following the recent devastating fires in our local community. The featured presentations covered research design, preliminary outcomes and future research needs.  

Session 1- First Year Findings

Rapid Initial Response of Best Management Practices (BMPs) for Water Quality – Carol Wallen, Senior Biologist, NorthStar and Radley Ott, Assistant Director, Butte County Department of Public Works. Click for Presentation.  

Camp Fire Watershed Emergency Response Team – Final Report 

Short Term Results and Long-Term Impacts of the Camp Fire on Surface Water Quality – Michael Parker, Engineering Geologist, Central Valley Regional Water Board and Alisha Wenzel, Central Valley Regional Water Board. Click for Presentation. 

Surface Water Quality Lessons Learned from Carr Fire – Lynn Coster, Senior Environmental Scientist, Central Valley Regional Water Board. Click for Presentation.  

Assessment of Camp Fire Impacts to Lake Oroville – Daniel Wisheropp and Calvin Yang, Operations and Maintenance, Department of Water Resources. Click for Presentation. 

Groundwater Monitoring in Camp Fire Zone – Scott McReynolds, and Evan MacKinnion, California Department of Water Resources. Click for Presentation.  

Paradise Irrigation District Watershed Management and Supply System – Kevin Phillips, District Manager, Paradise Irrigation District. 

Ongoing Water Quality Management with Erosion Prevention – Don Lindsey, Sr. Engineering Geologist, California Geological Survey. Click for Presentation. 

Session 2-Urban Fires Impacts on Food and Ag

Livestock Water and Forage Quality Post Fire – Tracy Schohr, Livestock and Natural Resources Advisor Butte, Plumas and Sierra counties, UC Cooperative Extension and Betsy Karle, Dairy Advisor and Glenn County Director, UC Cooperative Extension.

     Click for Forage Quality Presentation. 

               Fact Sheet: Wildfire Ash: Impacts on Forage Crops  

     Click for Livestock Drinking Water Quality Presentation. 

Fire Impacts to Eggs from Backyard Poultry– Maurice Ernest Pitesky- DVM, MPVM, Dipl ACVPM, Assistant Specialist in Cooperative Extension, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Click for Presentation. 

Produce Safety After Urban Wildlife – Rob Bennaton, UC Cooperative Extension Alameda County. Click for Presentation. 

Executive Summary – Produce Safety After Urban Wildfire – Citizen Science Initiative.

Final Report – Cumulative Risk Assessment of local produce exposed to urban wildfire smoke. 

Community Guide – Assessing the potential health impacts
of locally-grown produce exposed to urban wildfire smoke.

Forest Health Post Fire – Ryan Tompkins, Forestry Advisor Plumas and Sierra Counties, University of California Cooperative Extension and Kate Wilkin, Forestry and Fire Science Advsior for Butte, Placer, Nevada, Yuba, and Sutter counties, University of California Cooperative Extension. Click for Presentation. 

Session 3- Future Research

Comprehensive Camp Fire Natural Resources Investigation Underway –  Jackson Webster, Department of Civil Engineering, Chico State and Sandrine Matiasek, Geological and Environmental Sciences Department, Chico State. Click for Presentation.

Additional Resources

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